Grifter & Grape

09/09/2025

With the changing of the tide came the overhaul of the business. Just like with The Starving Gypsy, there is a vein that runs throughout all things that I do. Grifter & Grape is no different and now you should understand why the totem is what it is.

27/08/2025

Tonight was what I am going to call a “bookend” dinner. When I was back here in Austin, fresh off tour, even the creation process wasn’t enough to curb the empty. I struggled a great deal, out loud, with what the contamination of talent looked like and I made a plan to remember everything I had built.
This was a physical representation of not only the work that got me here, but the work that defines and drives my life. Per the usual, I did too much. I was able to catch a few pics of dishes fully formed and others in the making.
I put all this newly crafted inspiration on a plate and I just cooked my heart out.
I didn't have to shrink or tiptoe, stay silent, hide or allow others to fill in the blanks for me.
I could just be and recall that doing me..works.
For that, I am glad.

Thank you, NEXT!
💜🥰💜 🥰💜🥰

24/08/2025

….off to see the wizard. 🌯🥗🍖🥘🍲

18/08/2025

A busy couple of days coming up.
There's a great deal of prep work for an upcoming event as well as the pre-planning for next week's class that has many moving pieces.
Its the fun stuff though.
Just have to get the visions out of my head onto these pages and plates.

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14/08/2025

…..just another day in the office.

13/08/2025

I have been in a space of Catch & Release. You know how they tell you catch flights, not feelings. That sense of release. As I have been closing out the last chapter, culinarily speaking - there’s been another skin that I have watched shrivel and die. At first, I was fighting this and then eventually, I gave up because resistance isn’t necessary when old versions have already dissipated. With that newness, I went back and started re-reading some old projects.

AFRODESIAC was my first cookbook and, if I’m honest, its full of testing recipes because at that time, I had a great deal of scattered energy, a brand that I was building and some visions I was determined to bring to life. I was in my mid-30s, hadn’t fully processed the significance of presence in particular spaces yet knew there were some stories that I needed to share. In present day, the book title ended up being more weighted than I anticipated. Most people know an “aphrodisiac” to be something -insert drink, food, or drug - that attaches itself to desires. However, as I’ve often said, it’s about the food, but really it’s about the people. That book did not shy away from what it means to continue to create within a body that others often chose to fulfill their dreams and then lay to waste.
I’ll let you decipher that however you’d like.

DEATH & THE GIRL was very different. It was as unexpected of a project as the deaths that inspired it. I had no desire to write this book the way that I did and even when I did. It cemented the chef I had became in my 30s and laid foundations for the business woman I had morphed into in my 40s. It contains some of my most raw stories and best recipes…to that date. And I say this because I feel like I have only gotten better….as a chef, as a business, as a woman.
Both books are a tale of multiple cities and closers to different versions of self. I’m excited for all the projects I’m crafting next. I said that I wasn’t going to write another cookbook and just like with the others, the universe gives me pushes. I’m not sure what all the next one will say but I know exactly where I need to be when I write it.

Are we there yet? I don’t know….you tell me.

07/08/2025

Let’s play a game of auspicious angles. Yesterday’s class was a hybrid of historical reimaginations and childlike adventure. Really, it’s just a chapter out of my brain on a low level evening. The Palette Tester was a byproduct of that large jug of mayo that I randomly received only to make its way into autumnal vegetable based cornbread. And then there’s the Gumbo mania that accompanied. There wasn’t any Tasso left over since most of it was devoured immediately but lucky for us all, there was version 2 of the potato salad still here - meh!

1: Butternut Squash Cornbread�
2: Fried Okra�
3: Satan’s Divide - A la The Potato Salad That Ruined My Soul�
4: Gumbo Ya-Ya
5: Brown Sugar Beignets

All in all…..the night was a roaring success. The stretching continues…….

04/08/2025

Guess I have some extra things to do today, 🤷🏾‍♀️😂

02/08/2025

The background work for classes always turns into a historic research travel log. Mainly because my brain goes bonkers with ideas of what I want to execute and also explain. This class coming up is no different. Since I’m in a place where gumbo is made differently by whom you talk to, I wanted a more exciting way to relay some of the neglected info. Therefore, “Gumbo Bingo” was born. Let’s see how this whole thing turns out. Come hang out Tuesday, 6PM at Cane River Kitchenware. The stretching continues…..

01/08/2025

As of late, I have found myself stretching. What that really means in life, I’m not sure but on a plate, it’s been a jam out session. Last night’s Southern Classics class was a blast. The only thing missing here would be the Maque Choux. However, my favorite to mastermind would have to be the vegan dessert dedicated to the late Leah Chase & My Father. Thanks to for inspiring this week’s Palette Tester. On to create another day…

Palette Tester - Fried Green Tomatoes, Roasted Corn Cream Cheese, Pickled Watermelon 🍉 Rind
2 -Black-Eyed Pea Dip
3 - Crawfish & Sweet Corn 🌽 Spoonbread
4- Pecan Crusted Pork 🐷 Chops
5 - Strawberry 🍓 Mousse